And the Road Goes On
by Kanthia
Summary: A series of Pokemon drabbles written in part for the 365 Drabble Challenge. Contains spoilers. 17: Dawn and Barry have been around the world. Now, they are back home.
1. Without Words

**Title**: Without Words  
**Fandom**: Pokémon (Special 1: Mewtwo Returns)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Ash, Mewtwo  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

_One foot in front of the other._

He can feel Chikorita and Bulbasaur straining, struggling to support all two-hundred-seventy-something pounds of Psychic Pokémon. _Geez_, he thinks, _Team Rocket must have fed you well_.

Mewtwo laughs. It's a weaker laugh than before, and Ash takes the cue to step it up. _I was created to have a powerful body. My powerful mind was an added bonus._ It resumes prodding around the outside of his mind, searching for memories; the feeling is on the threshold of pain and instead becomes something else entirely.

_You have seen much_, it notes, touching a memory that Ash would rather not have been touched. _I am…jealous._

_You've seen a lot too, Mewtwo. _The weight is causing his knees to shake. He's not sure how much longer he can keep this up.

_Who is this? _It touches a memory from not too long ago.

_My mother,_ Ash says without speaking. _And that's an Entei._

_Yes, I have been bred to know of Entei_, it says, _But not of mothers. She is beautiful._

Ash isn't quite sure what to think, because _bred_ implies _breed_ which implies a natural birth and he isn't sure if he has just caused an epiphany. _Well- _his thoughts are as haltingly stupefied as his burning legs- _Mew- he's kind of your…parent, right?_

There is a long pause. _I suppose so._ The words are quiet, restrained, almost defeated. Ash can't think straight anymore from the strain on his legs and mind, so he shuts off his brain and focuses on the ground before him.

_Why… _Mewtwo is not asking, but lamenting. _Why are you helping me?_

They step into the light before Ash answers.

_Because you needed it._


	2. Repaired

**Title**: Repaired  
**Fandom**: Pokémon  
_Pairing/Characters_: Misty, Ash, hints of Misty/Ash  
Warning(s): None.  
Genre: Gen

It wasn't even an expensive bike.

It was an okay-looking bike, a hand-me-down that she had never really had any sort of affection or attached any sort of importance to. It got her places pretty well, like through the Viridian Forest- she was surprised how fast her feet could go when the Metapod started falling out of every tree- and generally enjoyed being a fairly useful not-piece-of-junk. It had also been free; a gift from the Bike Shop, but _that_ was because of the owner being male and her sisters being pretty.

So it wasn't that the bike was expensive or rare or special. It wasn't even the thought of getting through the Viridian Forest on foot, since she could take the long way home via Cinnabar- well, it was those things at first. She'd been raised with a sort of hard-edged unapologetic side that came out when people tried to steal things from her and not pay her back.

And he was a pretty silly-looking boy, with his messy black hair and uncooperative Pikachu. Still, she needed someone to journey with on her way back home. All roads led to Rome. She found herself with a travel partner.

She found him annoying and childish, rather untalented, kind of lame; a little bit cute, but mostly all of the above minus 'e'. Pikachu started to like him after a while, which made things easier. He won his first gym badge. He won his first eight gym badges. Brock came along for the ride, obviously, and she saw things that no regular average trainer gets to see in seven lifetimes.

She had chalked it up to accidents at first- getting the invitation to New Island was because of 'right place, right time' syndrome, and maybe Deliah Ketchum thought it through when she named her kid 'Ash', and the whole fiasco with the Unown was because he was a friend of Oak who was a friend of Deliah who happened to be visiting and happened to be a compatible mother for the deranged eight-year-old Molly-

Oh, but who was she kidding. It wasn't a coincidence that Sammy Oak happened to drop in from the past when they were in the area, or that Latias happened to pick him as a new friend that one week they were in town.

_He's charmed, that's what he is._ Legendary Pokémon and strange events seemed to gravitate towards him. Everything seemed to gravitate towards him- like he was the center of the earth, or the center of some kind of giant spiral that began and ended with him.

"Well," Ash says, the path splitting three ways- to Pewter, to Cerulean, and to the future- "I guess this is goodbye, for now."

Misty smiles to hide her tears and waves until long after he is gone. Then she squares her shoulders and turns her newly fixed bike in the direction of home- a place without a path to follow but still a journey to take, and one that she will have to make hers, without him.

She tries, really tries, to get on the seat of the bike, but she can't. Not yet. It's not an expensive bike, but it meant more to her broken than repaired.


	3. I've Got a Secret

**Title**: I've Got a Secret  
**Fandom**: Pokémon  
_Pairing/Characters_: Deliah, Ash  
Warning(s): Fanon-ish  
Genre: Gen

She had been of ill humour when her son was born, and named him Ash- a boy born out of the ashes of her life prior to meeting his father. Every day was one of hopeless fear that she would see those small eyes, those high cheekbones, or the neatly combed black hair that had once stolen her naïve little heart.

But Ash showed nothing of his father, and like Ho-oh rises from the ashes of the Burned Tower, the boy grew more and more beautiful- and precious- each day, every feature an opposite of the man she despised. He had large, inquisitive eyes and hair that refused to be tamed by comb or water. He was pleasant, adventurous, charming even. He was a blessing to the simple country life shoved onto Deliah's tired shoulders.

She was a fool to fall in love with him…but a lucky fool, because even though she can never return to her old dreams of teaching or traveling or training (who would hire that man's whore?), she has Ash. Ash can live the life that she was denied.

She has a secret and she can't tell anyone. Ash Ketchum stands, not alone, on the short hop from champion to legend; news of who his father is would scandalize his name, break his spirit, and steal his rightful glory. She can't allow that to happen.

Giovanni- Giovanni! How she still despises the name to this day!- is still interested in him. The Pikachu the boy loves is not important to him. He has broken her and he wishes to break his son by taking that which is most important to him. But he can't. Ash is stronger than his mother ever was.

"You're crying, mom," Ash says, speaking to her through the Indigo League video phone. Seven years have not tamed the boy in him. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she says, wiping her eyes. "Just remembering something I'd rather not."


	4. Two Forty Eight

**Title**: Two-Forty-Eight  
**Fandom**: Pokémon  
_Pairing/Characters_: Ash  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

There are a lot of people at Indigo that day- a whole lot more than Ash has ever met, and Ash sure has met a lot of people. It's been a good journey. It's been a _good_ journey.

If he squints his eyes- it's almost too bright to see, here at the top of the world- he can pick out faces in the crowd. People from every city and every town, breeders and trainers and old friends and those who were once enemies; it's almost funny, because though there are tens of thousands watching from below, the entire world is up on the stage with him.

Forming the back row are no less than thirty Gym Leaders from four regions, the middle row fourteen Elite Four members. To either side of him stand everyone else- Misty and Brock and May and Max and Tracey and Dawn and his beloved mother and three regions of Pokémon Professors. Professors Samuel and Gary Oak are up at the podium making their speeches. His mother is already crying.

It's to thunderous applause that Professor Oak Senior finishes his words, glowing praise for the boy whose famous journey began so humbly. When he steps down, Lance takes his place flanked by Wallace and Cynthia.

"It's not every day we crown a new Pokémon Champion," he says, grinning wildly. "But the world of Pokémon never ends. That being said, it is my honour to transfer the title of World's Greatest Pokémon Trainer to Ash Ketchum of Pa-"

Somebody screams and points towards the sky. Several thousand pairs of eyes immediately turn heavenward.

It's been a _good _journey, he knows, in every crevice of his heart. And as Ho-Oh flies over, setting a rainbow over the Indigo Plateau and its new Champion, nobody notices as he sinks to his knees, puts his head in his hands and cries and cries and cries.


	5. With Me

**Title**: With Me  
**Fandom**: Pokemon  
_Pairing/Characters_: Ash, Sir Aaron  
Warning(s): Movie 8 canon.  
Genre: Gen

"You've grown up well," Aaron says to him in a dream. Ash blinks twice, looks at his hands, pinches a fold of skin near his elbows, and looks back up.

"Yes," Aaron muses, putting a hand to his chin. Lucario is sitting with folded arms on a stump beside him; they're standing in a forest Ash has never seen with open eyes before. A warm breeze flutters over a nearby river and brings to mind a memory of a place long gone. "There was a boyish charm about you once, but I feel less of that now."

"I-" Ash falters. "P-Pikachu-"

"-Is right next to you." Reflexively, Ash looks to his shoulder rather to the ground and is comforted by the familiar weight of a friend and companion. Aaron and Lucario tilt their heads in unison- it's a gesture of understanding. "How has the Aura been treating you?"

"I haven't...given it much thought," Ash says, unable to lie in his ancestor's presence. "-But I sense its presence everywhere, yeah?"

Aaron chuckles. "Well, I appreciate your honesty. Come here." He steps forward and Aaron gathers him in a one-arm embrace, Lucario joining by placing a paw on Ash's shoulder. "Aura is more than just something we once used to join battles with our friends. It is the force that drives all living things- great and small- to live and learn and love. It is life itself. All can feel it, but you, as well as Lucario and I, can see it and manipulate it as well."

"Like...the will to live."

"The will to live, indeed. And the will to create futures, bright ones filled with happiness and joy."

Despite himself- he's fourteen now, and thought himself beyond the need for parental support- he snuggles deeper into the embrace and closes his eyes. Faintly, very faintly, he can see the outline of Aaron's body, feel the beating of his heart, and sense the brilliant violet waves of pride that radiate from Aaron's body. The aura is with him.


	6. With My Hands

**Title**: With My Hands  
**Fandom**: Pokemon  
_Pairing/Characters_: Ash, Dawn, Brock  
Warning(s): Spoilers for Movie 10.  
Genre: Gen

The road from Alamos Town to their next destination is long but easy, and the weather is agreeing with them. Sunshine, in abundance but not too hot, is covering them as they walk and walk and walk and take in the scenery.

It's a two day walk- they've done longer- so when the sun begins to lower itself Brock suggests they set up camp before it gets too dark to see. They find a nice, small patch of flat grass; it's obviously a campsite, and it reminds Ash of how many people have been here before him.

Dawn and Piplup go off to find firewood and water while Brock sets up the tent. Ash takes their dinner out of his bag, rice and vegetables kindly prepared by Alice. It is still light out when Dawn returns, her arms full with firewood but no water. They'll have to rely on Piplup and Buizel to get them through to morning. It's not too bad…things could be a lot worse.

"You look pensive, Ash. Want to talk about it?" Dawn hugs her knees as Brock starts a fire and pours the rice into a pot, Buizel at his side.

"I just…I was really scared, back there, in Alamos Town. If we hadn't made it in time…"

He lowers his hat so they can't see his eyes, but Dawn drapes a hand over his shoulder anyways. "I don't know about you, Ash, but I knew you were going to do it. So keep your chin up, okay?"

Ash sniffs and nods.

"Besides," Brock adds, "This isn't the first time you've done something like that. Aren't you used to saving the world by now?"

That elicits a laugh from Ash, and a sobering reminder that Brock speaks the truth- to the tune of Mewtwo, Lugia, Entei, Celebi, Latias…

"Maybe," he admits. "I'm just glad we're all okay." Pikachu jumps off his shoulder and snuggles happily in his lap.

"I'm just glad we're all okay."


	7. Alive

**Title**: Alive  
**Fandom**: Pokemon  
_Pairing/Characters_: Ash, Pikachu  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

He often joked that the world kept him alive. There was a lot of truth to that -- all that air, all those open roads, and you're bound to live forever. But Ash Ketchum couldn't live forever. Not even him.

He gave our world a lot of things, Ash Ketchum. He gave us four hundred-odd Pokemon, categorized by number or type or height or weight or anything you'd ever imagine. He gave us the journey of humble origins, the idea that above all tenacity will overcome almost anything. He was the smiling legend who wandered freely and lived a life one could only wish to emulate.

They whisper he lived a charmed life. Luck alone wouldn't lead you to half the things he saw -- things of the once-every-thousand-years sort. They say he saw the beginning and the end of our world and I don't doubt that one bit.

He lived past a hundred years, which is rare for a boy. His Pikachu lived past a hundred years, which is unheard of for those sorts of forest creatures. But (if you'll allow me to go off on a tangent for a bit) that wasn't a normal Pikachu. Normal Pikachu don't take on Dragonite as equals. Normal Pikachu aren't that strong. Only Pikachu to take on Brock's Onix and win -- just after he left home! Hence, 'tenacity will overcome almost anything'.

Except death, yeah. Everything except death.

D'you know how they first met? An accident! He woke up late. Oak had happened to catch it after Viridian complained that some of them were chewing down the power lines outside of town. Planned to release it after a stern talking-to, but putting it in the company of an incompetent little boy seemed like punishment enough.

…Can you imagine how they must have felt, Ash and Pikachu, Pikachu and Ash? That first night, the rain pouring, their lives about to end? Something must have happened then, because from that moment on they were tied together. Destined to win it all together, and destined to die together.

Yeah, that was quite a Pikachu. And he was quite a boy.

It's too bad that they're dead.


	8. Love You

**Title**: Love You  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Movie 9: Pokemon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea)  
_Pairing/Characters_: May, Manaphy  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Adorable

The moon is waxing, smooth as an exhalation, and all May can do is watch. She watches from her tiny hammock, drinking in the speckled night sky, wondering where they'll go and what they'll see tomorrow – and she's happy, really happy, that she's allowed to take part in this little adventure.

"Ma_na_," Manaphy says from the floor beside her, reaching up with its wet little arms. She leans over the side of her hammock and picks it up gently. It wriggles into her grasp before she can set it down on top of the blankets, so she give up and lets it lie in the circle of her arms beside her. A stray beam of moonlight glances off Jackie's binoculars. She wonders why his aura is cold and unloving, when Manaphy's heart is big enough for the both of them.

"I love you, Manaphy," she says, and she means it. It looks toward her, and a sudden thought seizes her. "Can you say 'I love you'?"

"La?"

"Love you."

"Ma na na fu?"

"_Love_ you." She giggles. Manaphy's stare is innocent and charming.

"_Laaaaave_you."

Her heart leaps. "Right! Love you!"

"Happy! Manaphy _love_ you!"

They embrace, May with her dry skin and Manaphy all wet, a tangled weave of peasants from the land and royalty from the sea, connected by the thread of language and love. The thought of the space between them when they are so close comes sudden and harsh, ripping tears from her eyes despite the smile on her face.

"Happy?"

"S-sorry, Manaphy. I-" She sniffs. "I- It's-"

A huge smile breaks out all over Manaphy. It reaches up and brushes the tears away, sticking its flipper in its mouth to taste her sadness, then motions toward the ocean. "Love happy! Manaphy _love_ you!"

_Manaphy loves _- she looks out, beyond the railing of the boat. _My tears taste like the sea. Manaphy loves the sea, and it loves me too._

A full moon is coming, and May can do nothing to stop it. She holds Manaphy tight and cries, her heart filled with sadness and joy.


	9. With My Friends

**Title**: With My Friends  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Crystal, gameverse)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Original (Kris)  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Kris had been quiet and calm, almost sullen her first ten years of life; living in New Bark does that to you, where the only excitement belongs to someone else. She spent long hours when she was young looking over the grassy plains to Johto in the west and over the still water to Kanto in the east, never venturing outside the town borders for fear of death or worse.

In her tenth year the professor handed her a friend for her to borrow to deliver a message far away in Cherrygrove. She'd like to think that little Chikorita, now a Meganium, was at least partly responsible for her transformation from sullen to joyful, from quiet to bright. For when she had stumbled out of town, afraid for her very life after years of indoctrination, he had taken her pant leg in his teeth and pulled her into the future.

She still remembers the fear that seized her, a dark lightness coiling like an Ekans around her stomach, but pushed on for fear of upsetting her little partner. And in time there were more friends, a Growlithe first, then Machop and Abra south of Goldenrod, Horsea fished up in Olivine (Clair seemed proud that she was, at the very least, passing on the Rising Badge to someone who could train a Dragon), and Skarmory south of Blackthorn when she had turned her eyes back towards home.

With them – Meganium, Arcanine, Machamp, Alakazam, Kingdra, and Skarmory – she had seen things that no man or woman had seen in hundreds of years, fought off dark terrors in the form of pure evil, and learned that some things are worth risking one's life for. The crushing placidity of New Bark Town could not offer her these things in her entire life, and she had seen them in the space of two years.

Now she stands, in the short hop between champion and legend, on the shores of Kanto. Her journey has just begun.


	10. Too Curious

**Title**: Too Curious  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Gen I)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Red  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

**February 6**

_Mew gave birth. We named the newborn Mewtwo._

The Unknown Dungeon was an awful place, filled with a cold sticky dampness that clung to the skin under clothing and the fiercest Pokémon Red had ever seen. He certainly would not have even considered coming had it not been for his stupid all-consuming curiosity.

Back when he had been working towards his seventh badge, a rumour of a lost key drew him to an abandoned mansion on Cinnabar – it was well past ruined and teeming with wild things and treasure-seekers, but in its basement he made a shocking discovery. It seemed that Team Rocket (he shuddered to think of them) had a hand in the experiments of Cinnibar's scientists, and forced them to create…something. They called it Mewtwo and it was born of Mew; he hadn't the faintest clue what kind of Pokémon either of those were, and his Pokédex knew nothing either.

But Mewtwo was too powerful and fled the mansion – perhaps that was why the building was ruined – and Red followed rumour after rumour to solve its mystery. Every trail turned cold and eventually he turned back to his original quest.

Becoming Champion was not easy, but had many benefits; Lance knew nothing about Mewtwo, but Agatha was old and had been everywhere in her day. She pointed him towards Cerulean with a gleam in her eyes.

And so he stumbled into the Cerulean Cave, the Unknown Dungeon where Mewtwo was said to have fled to after taking the lives of Team Rocket's men of science. Red wasn't too sure as to why he was braving its depths just to confirm a feeling, but he did know one thing – if he managed to find Mewtwo, hidden somewhere deep underground, he would apologize for what humanity's curiosity had forced it to do.

**September 1**

_Mewtwo is far too powerful. We have failed to curb its vicious tendencies..._


	11. Killing the Cat

**Title**: Killing the Cat  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Gen I)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Red, Mewtwo  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Part 2 in a series.

Eventually he got so deep into the Cerulean Cave that he found it difficult to see for want of light, so he called out Charizard, got off his bike, and kept close to the glow of its tail fire. Every so often he'd have to recall it to cross a pool of water on Blastoise's shell – it was much too cramped for Charizard to fly, the ceiling low and threatening, and together they slipped silently through the murky darkness.

The wild Pokémon, which had attacked so fiercely on the higher floors, seemed to be less eager down here; he wondered if something was frightening them, or if they simply felt unchallenged by his presence. The latter seemed more likely but he leaned towards the former hypothesis as he plunged deeper, and he suddenly realized that there was a strange white noise inside his head – as though something was poking around in there.

He stopped, moved closer to Charizard, and looked around.

"Hello?"

No answer. He took a step forward and a sudden pain burst between his eyes, loosing a cry from his lips as he sunk to his knees. By reflex, Charizard roared and blew a flame deep into the cave, accomplishing nothing but singeing the shell of a nearby Parasect.

There were Kadabra and Hypno down here – he'd seen them earlier – but neither had the power to attack his mind so severely. Charizard offered him an arm which he took, stumbling as he tried to step forward. If it wasn't a Kadabra or Hypno, then –

"Mewtwo?" His voice was weak from the mental strain. His voice echoed through the cave, and was answered with another attack, but much softer this time. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as it poked through his head, apparently finding it fine as it pulled itself out and, with an invisible hand, pushed him forward.

Whatever it was, it was waiting for him to come.


	12. Bringing Him Back

**Title**: Bringing Him Back  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Gen I)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Red, Mewtwo  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Part 3 in a series.

And stumble forward he did, despite the exhaustion creeping up on his body from the mental torture, into the belly of the Unknown Dungeon. A pool of water appeared before him again; he allowed the darkness to close in and slipped onto Blastoise. He was wet and cold and tired, and so were his friends; still, he could do nothing but carry on.

It was silent for a few moments before he ran into it – it was as though he had suddenly run headfirst into an invisible brick wall. Blastoise swam on, seemingly unaffected, but he was thrown backwards off its shell into the water, unconscious before he hit the surface. Cradled by death, he sank into the grimy sea.

When he awoke, the first realization was that he could see; when his bleary eyes became focused to the light of the Cerulean Cave, it hit him that the darkness that had all but swallowed him was no more, and he could see as though it was day underground. The second realization was that he was on dry land. The third was that something was coiling through his head.

He gasped with shock and fear, and the tendrils quickly pulled themselves out and pushed themselves flat against the side of his head, pushing him against the ground. He lay there until they left his mind and slowly pushed himself up, feeling something warm and wet seeping from his ear.

_My apologies,_ he heard, from somewhere inside of himself. _I acted out of reflex._

"Who? I —" He looked up, and –

_Mewtwo._

"Mewtwo," he breathed.

_Indeed_, it said. _That is my name. And you are?_

"R-Red."

_I thought you would come._

"You…thought I would come?" Grimacing through the pain, he pushed himself to his feet unsteadily. Though he felt its presence, he could not see any living creature. Then the air in front of him shivered, and – it appeared before him.

_You seemed curious._


	13. Too Human

**Title**: Too Human  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Gen I)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Red, Mewtwo  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Part 4 in a series.

The mental and physical punishment had left Red weak, so Mewtwo let him sleep. When he woke again he felt as though he had to push himself out of his dreams by brute force. He was no longer exhausted, but sleeping on hard rock had left him with a multitude of aches and pains.

Mewtwo was sitting on a rock perhaps ten feet away from him, idly moving a hand – paw – and watching small rocks dance in the air before it. As Red groaned and pushed himself to his feet, Mewtwo turned its attention towards him.

_Your body is weak,_ it said.

"I'm only human," he said in response, aware of the irony of the statement. "I – you were genetically engineered. I was…"

_Born of man and woman. I did not have that privilege, you are correct._

There was a hint of sadness in its words, and Red felt it right down to his heart.

_You are empathetic,_ Mewtwo said, flatly. It turned back to its rocks, king of the darkest parts of the belly of the Cerulean Cave and nothing else. Red slid over, pushing through a wall of psychic force, to sit next to it.

"May I – touch your fur?"

_I have no reason to prevent you from doing so._

So he did, reaching out carefully, and touched the fur of its thigh. It was very fine, soft, but cold; he could feel its muscle underneath, like a creature made of steel and not flesh or blood. He found a rising urge to make conversation, for humanity and Pokémon alike grow by sharing stories. He continued, and soon started nervously petting it. "Will you…tell me a story? Tell me about Team Rocket, Mewtwo."

Mewtwo turned towards him, expressionless. _It was you who defeated them, and yet…you are more than empathetic, boy. You are a fool. _

"I'm sorr—"

— _But I will tell you my story, for the rocks have no minds to speak to, and I was afraid I would perish before anyone could hear me speak. It is a very…human flaw of mine._


	14. Wander Home

**Title**: Wander Home  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Gen II)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Kris  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

She had been all over Johto in her time, and Kanto as well, but as she grew old her wanderlust began to wane and she started feeling a tugging to settle down.

There were many places open for her, and many that petitioned for her to stay there – as a Champion she was somewhere in between a celebrity and a has-been, but famous enough to attract attention. Eventually she purchased an apartment in Ecruteak City and set down her backpack there.

But twenty years of open roads didn't leave her quickly; she had very few things that didn't fit in her pack, and her home always felt empty no matter how many young trainers came to pay their respects. She knew more about cooking over an open fire than an oven top, and slept better in a sleeping bag than a bed. She longed for a new journey but had nowhere to go, and days are long without a direction.

So she hopped on Lanturn and turned towards Cianwood, the tiny haunt across the sea where she had once come face-to-face with Suicune, now a cherished partner. It was there, she was certain, that she would find the bit of peace that had called to her for so long.

She had one Fighting-type, her beloved Machamp, and Chuck considered that good enough. He took her under his wing like the father she had never known, training her to focus her mind and body. He was getting old now; he needed a successor, and asked her if she'd take up the torch.

It took a little coercing of the League because her team was too powerful to be anything but the eighth gym, but Clair and Samuel (Pryce's eldest son) eventually agreed. Blue offered his support of a second multi-type gym. They cleared it out, she designed and purchased a new setup, and fell into a new routine.

So she had satisfied both urges at once – she had settled down, but could feel youth and passion through others.


	15. Poetic

**Title**: Poetic  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Movie 2)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Ash, Lugia  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

_This land is beautiful_, Lugia says, as it flies him over the world they have saved. _There has been much I have missed since the last time._

"The last time?" Ash leans over, closer to its face. He knows that Lugia doesn't need it – heck, he probably doesn't even need to speak out loud – but that's the human in him, and he gives it human sympathy because that's all he has. "When was 'last time'?"

Its eyes turn towards him as it dips down to touch the water's surface. _Have you heard a story of two towers, one of tin and one of brass?_

"Yes," he says, wondering if he can fool a Psychic like Lugia. History is not his best subject. There is a period of silence; he knows that it knew the answer to the question before it was asked, and marvels at how it is returning his sympathy in a very human way. He feels a little guilty for lying.

_Has the woman who named you ever spoken of where your name came from?_ There is a huge group of Pokemon on the coast below them, offering a symphony of noise. Ash struggles with the question – it even takes him a while until he realizes just who Lugia is speaking of, and it's a pretty way to put it, but a little off-putting at the same time.

"When I was little," he says, finally. "She mentioned once that I came out of 'the ashes of what was once hers'. I didn't really get it, and I don't think she wanted to tell me more."

_It's poetic_, Lugia says with the coloured hint of a sigh. Ash isn't quite sure what it means so he turns his head up and watches the sky he's saved sail by. _Your name, that is – that it means much to both her, and our precious world._


	16. Mother of the Sea

**Title**: Mother of the Sea  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Movie 9)  
_Pairing/Characters_: May  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Ever since her meeting with its Prince, May has felt a strong connection to the sea. It's a connection she can't quite explain – a kind of force that draws her to it, makes her take off her shoes and feel the gentle lap of salt water on her skin, makes her fill her hands with it and run it over her face. Sea Pokémon are drawn to her, especially at night; when she finds herself humming Manaphy's song the waves draw back and expose hundreds of Corsola and Clampearl and Mantine and Octillery and Seadra and Shellder and Seaking and Lanturn and Lumineon and she swears she even saw a Dragonair once.

She wonders if he's made her his Princess, the Princess of the Sea. Or – well, she hatched him, so she's more like its Queen, and the thought makes her shiver. She never asked anyone for this sort of responsibility, but it's much too late to turn back time and undo the amazing things he's shown her.

So she sits by the sea whenever she can and recalls the feeling of watching it hatch; the burst of light, the warm, damp feeling in her hands. It's a powerful emotion that bursts out from within her heart when she thinks of it, and perhaps that is the way her mother feels when she thinks of her. And now her mother is a grandmother to the entire ocean, in a way, or at the very least to the Prince of the Sea.

Manaphy is out there, somewhere, in the Temple of the Sea watching over her. And when she dips her feet in the water she feels as though she, too, is watching over it – certain that the sea is safe, and so is he. It's the least she can do, as his mother.


	17. Back Home

**Title**: Back Home  
**Fandom**: Pokemon (Diamond/Pearl, gameverse)  
_Pairing/Characters_: Dawn, Barry, Dawn/Barry  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

The relationship between Dawn and Barry, renowned across Sinnoh, was a rather amicable rivalry – they were friendly competitors at the highest level of battle artistry. They were both roaming Champions who had taken down Cynthia but refused to be tied to her position; instead, they travelled across the world, sometimes together and sometimes separate, and battled occasionally.

Their favourite meeting place was the Resort Area in north-west Sinnoh. Before that it had been Twinleaf, but they were growing famous enough that whenever they met a crowd of paparazzi and trainers jostling for a chance to see a world-class battle would materialize out of nowhere, and the last thing they were interested in was taking away the peace and quiet that their hometown deserved. So they met in secret in a tucked-away part of their world where they could battle if they wanted, or just sit and talk.

Often they did just that. The world was large and full of stories, and where Dawn was a storyteller Barry was a story embellisher and they cobbled together long afternoons of idle chat over sandwiches and lemonade. Sometimes they would stick their feet in the water and do a little fishing or amble into the grass and run the Poké Radar to look for strange-coloured Pokémon – Dawn had completed her Pokédex, being more of a collector than a battler, so her world was a little bit smaller that way.

Sometimes they would just talk and talk and talk for hours about their own journeys, right from the moment they had decided to search for the Red Gyarados north of town and stumbled on a forgotten briefcase. But Dawn had an Empoleon and Barry had his Torterra now, and it had been years since they were so young and naive.

They fell in love with their world, and perhaps with each other – but that was another journey, one that had lead them across Sinnoh and then back home.


End file.
